Monday, December 22, 2014

V12:Chapter Five-continued

“As you can imagine, I found it sort of
improbable that young Henry and the time device would happen upon our path,
especially when we so desperately needed our friend Feng here.”

“You
and me both, doc.”

The
doc pulled a bit of parchment from his coat and began unfolding it. “Well, when
we were able to bring the two pieces of the time device together, I found
something interesting engraved on the bottom of the thing.” The doc flattened
the parchment out, allowing for everyone to see it.

Dodger
glanced down at the surprise to find a few basic Chinese symbols. He looked
back up to Feng. “What does it mean?”

“It’s
my name,” Feng said. “My real name.”

“Like
I said, what does that mean?”

Feng
sat back and scanned the room, taking in his friends, his family. “Fine. But
you aren’t going to like it. Remember when I went off for a bit, while the
Sleipnir had to air out after dingdong here filled it with gas?”

A
giggle slipped from Lelanea before she could suppress the laugh. “Of course we
remember.”

“Yes,
well,” Feng said, “I might have been up to more than just reaching out to that
slimy little toad.”

The
doc furrowed his brow. “Oh, no Feng. What have you done?”

“I
might have done a bit of scrying on my own future. I might have seen what was
going to happen with the TAP and knew I would suffer for it. I may have …”
Feng’s words faded into a garble of mumbles as the man lowered his head.

Feng
raised his head again and huffed. “I might have sent the basic schematics for
the TAP into the future with instructions on when and where to send it back to
me.” He ran a finger across the parchment bearing his name. “That’s proof that
it’s from me. I sent the characters of my name along with instructions to put
it on the device so I would know for certain where it came from.”

Dodger
raised his eyebrows. Never in a million years would he have suspected such a
thing was possible, much less have the idea himself.

Everyone
seemed shocked by the news, especially the doc.

The
professor’s jaw hung free as he stared at his old friend in complete surprise.
“Feng. Tell me you didn’t do such a terrible thing.”

Lelanea
let out a long sigh and covered her face with one hand. “This isn’t good.”

“I
know,” Feng said. “I couldn’t help it. I panicked. And to be fair, I didn’t
think it would work. If you remember I wanted to escape through the TAP the
moment I got back. You all saw me packing to get the hell out of here. You were
there.”

“I
hate to be the odd man out again,” Boon said. “Can someone explain why this is
a bad thing? Whatever he did worked and Feng is back to normal. What’s the
problem?”

Dodger
kept his mouth shut. He couldn’t see a problem either, but that didn’t mean
there wasn’t a problem. In his unfortunate experience, problems tended to be
invisible until they wreaked the havoc they intended.

“The
problem is that he interfered,” the doc said. “Our friend Feng here has created a temporal paradox.”

“I
did,” Dodger said. “I should’ve known. We had more than a few women sign up for
conscription during the war in place of their husband or sons.”

Lelanea
crossed her arms and stared hard at the spirit. “And you just happened to
notice these bindings, did you?”

“Well
the PAUL has really super sensitive eyes,” Boon said. “I tried not to notice,
but I couldn’t help it.” The spirit pointed to Feng again. “What about him? He
started a pair of docks!”

All
at once, the group devolved into arguing. The doc harangued Feng while the cook
insisted that he knew what he was doing. On the other side Lelanea grilled Boon
about what else PAUL’s visuals allowed him to notice about women while Boon
insisted he didn’t see anything out of the ordinary in the first place. Dodger
sighed and rubbed his temples, a headache settling into place behind his eyes.

The
doc nodded. “Agreed. He is still very naughty for doing so, but yes. We can’t
change it. No need to argue about it.”

“And
you two,” Dodger said, waving at the fuming lovers. “Knock it off. Boon only
noticed the bindings because he’s observant. Nothing more.”

Lelanea
shrugged, but didn’t lose the ire in her eyes. Boon whimpered at her
indifference.

Dodger
didn’t care. Let them fight about it later. He had far too much on his mind as
it was to worry about them now. “I have a plan. I am going to tell you my plan,
and you are going to follow it to the letter. No matter what I say. Do you
understand me?”

Lelanea
lost her attitude. “What plan-”

Dodger
silenced her with a raised hand. “I am in charge of security for this train. I
have put my life on the line for y’all more than once. I spent my whole life
playing this game and I know exactly what move to make next. The least you can
afford me is to pay attention to what I am about to say and don’t interrupt me.
When I am done, I don’t want to discuss the details. I want your obedience. Is
that understood?”

Four
pairs of eyes plied him with a thousand silent questions, but no one disagreed.

“Good,”
Dodger said. “Tyler Crank is on his way here. He should arrive within the next
twenty minutes or so. He is coming to arrest the doc.”

“What
makes him think he can do that?” Lelanea snapped.

“Ludda,”
the doc said and patted her knee. “Let Mr. Dodger finish.”

Dodger
waited for her to calm down before he continued. “Crank isn’t really coming for
the doc. He’s coming for me, and I am going to go with him.”

Mouths
opened but before anyone could argue, Dodger held his hands up again. Mouths
closed. Eyes burned. Especially Lelanea’s.

“I
have to go,” Dodger said. “The only way I can get on that airship without us
attacking it and risking crashing the thing is if I go willingly.”

“He’s
right,” Boon said.

“Boon,”
Lelanea said with a sneer.

“No,”
Feng said. “He is right. He needs to
be on that airship, and the only way he’ll get on is if Rex lets him. He has to
go with Crank. He has to surrender.”

“I
don’t care if he’s right,” the doc said. “We don’t have to like it.”

Dodger
smiled. “I didn’t ask you to like it. I asked you to listen and follow my
instructions.”